Taliban is top suspect in bombing at wedding

KABUL — An initial investigation into a bloody weekend suicide bombing at a wedding suggests the Taliban and terrorists were responsible, Afghanistan’s interior minister said Sunday.

A suicide bomber drew close to a warlord-turned-lawmaker at his daughter’s wedding Saturday, then blew himself up, killing the father of the bride and 22 others. The Taliban has not claimed responsibility for the attack, nor has it denied that it carried out the bombing.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul condemned the attack.

“This attack will only harden our resolve to work together with the Afghan government and people to realize a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan,” according to an embassy statement.

Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi was in Samangan province in northern Afghanistan on Sunday to attend the funeral of Afghan National Police Gen. Sayed Ahmad Sameh, the commander for the western region, who was killed in the attack.

“Our police and the provincial governor of Samangan told me that some evidence has surfaced that indicates that Taliban and terrorists were involved,” Mohammadi said.

The apparent target of the blast in the provincial capital of Aybak was Ahmad Khan Samangani, a wellknown ethnic Uzbek who commanded forces fighting the Soviets in the 1980s and later became a member of the parliament.

Samangani was welcoming guests to the wedding when the blast ripped through the building. Also killed were Mohammad Khan, the intelligence chief in the province, and Mohammadullah, an Afghan National Army division commander who uses only one name.

About 60 other people, including government officials, were wounded in the explosion. The interior minister said a government-appointed delegation believes the Taliban was the culprit.